Insurgent, Tobias' POV
by Hatethesilence312
Summary: Since you seemed to enjoy my version of Divergent from Tobias' POV, here is Insurgent. I would love it if you would read and review. Rated T because I rate EVERYTHING T.
1. Chapter 1: The Arrival

**A/N: I took way too long to begin this. I know that. I'm sorry. I hope it was worth the wait. I just wanted to thank all my reviewers for the amazing feedback I got for Divergent. I love you.**

Chapter One-The Arrival

I cross my ankles over each other from my spot on the train, running my fingers through Tris' hair softly. Caleb eyes my hand suspiciously.

"It's time to get off," Marcus announces. I shoot him a look and ease Tris' head off my shoulder so it's leaning back against the train wall. I crouch in front of her and shake her good shoulder gently.

Her eyes snap open and the absolute fear in them makes my spine lock into place. Is she afraid of me? I realize there is another emotion there, too, one that I am unfamiliar with and cannot identify. She sucks in a sharp breath and holds it for a minute before exhaling in a sharp gust.

"Tris, come on," I say carefully, my eyes trying to see through her, to see what that other emotion was. I come up blank. "We have to jump."

She does not say anything, but she accepts the hand I offer and I pull her to her feet. I stay close to her side as we near the doors. I would hope that Peter is too tired to try anything stupid right now, but no one can ever be sure.

Peter is the first off the train, followed by Marcus. Caleb looks hesitant, but he jumps anyway. Tris wraps her fingers around mine, and I relax. The wind howls and it feels ironic. It is almost like the world is warning us about the danger ahead, when we just fought a war. We are not likely to be scared off now.

So we launch ourselves of the train.

The impact makes my knees shake—it's been too long since I've done that, I suppose—and I look over to see Tris' teeth biting into her lip forcefully. It's a wonder she did not draw blood. Her eyes scan the darkness and something about her expression changes. Her face warms and softens. "Okay?" She murmurs and I follow her gaze.

Caleb is sitting on the ground, rubbing his leg. He looks like a child who fell off his bicycle and scraped his knee. As if to further support my observation, he _sniffles._

Tris looks away as though the idea of his injury physically pains her. For a fleeting moment, I wonder what it would have been like to have a sibling, to have someone besides Tris to love with everything in me.

And then Marcus speaks, and I am grateful for the lack of siblings. It would be selfish of me to wish for someone else to go through that.

"There are supposed to be Dauntless guards here. Where are they?"

"They were probably under the simulation, and are now . . ." I pause. "Who knows where, doing who knows what."

I go over and open lid to the keypad. "Let's hope the Erudite didn't think to change this combination," I say, typing the code in.

A second later, the gate clicks and opens.

"How did you know that?" Caleb asks, ever the Erudite. His voice is emotional, and for a minute, anger surges through me. He needs to learn to keep his emotions in check. We cannot have him sobbing if something goes wrong. And I have the sinking feeling _something _will go wrong.

"I worked in the Dauntless control room, monitoring the security system," I tell him anyway, just because he is Tris' brother and it would upset her if I made him cry. "We only change the codes twice a year."

"How lucky," Caleb says flatly, and I do not miss the look he gives me. I fight not to clench my fists. Tris would notice.

"Luck has nothing to do with it. I only worked there because I wanted to make sure I could get out."

I take a deep breath and Tris shivers in my peripheral vision, although I know it is not cold bothering her.

She takes the lead and I follow her silently, hoping I provide some reassurance, hoping I make her forget about the two potential dangers following behind us.

...

I watch the Amity headquarters come into view, lights shining through windows. We begin walking through a cave created by forearm-thick trees and soft soil. It reeks of mud, apples, and rain.

Marcus suddenly comes around to the front and I try not to cringe at his movement.

_You are Dauntless, _I remind myself. _He can't hurt you now._

"I know where to go."

He leads us to Amity and he opens the doors without any security. I feel something in me stiffen anyway, prepare for a fight.

I see Johanna Reyes staring out a window. "Oh, thank God," She breathes upon seeing Marcus. She moves forward, arms outstretched as though to hug him, but she just touches his shoulders instead. It is a very considerate thing for her to do—respecting his Abnegation—but something in me wishes she would have hugged him anyway, just to displease him.

"The other members of your party got here a few hours ago, but they weren't sure if you had made it." She glances over at me, and then Tris, and then Peter.

"Oh, my. I'll send for a doctor. I can grant you all permission to stay for the night, but tomorrow, or community must decide together. And," She turns to eye me for a moment before moving on to Tris "they will likely not be enthusiastic about a Dauntless presence in our compound. I of course ask you to turn over any weapons you might have."

I immediately give her my gun. When Tris reaches for her own weapon, reach out and stop her, pulling her hand away from her back and lacing our fingers together to cover my move. It would be foolish to remain entirely unarmed.

"My name is Johanna Reyes." She offers her hand to Tris and then me. This woman is good—greeting Marcus like an Abnegation, greeting us like the Dauntless.

"This is T—" Marcus begins, but I cut him off.

There is no way in _hell _I am having a bunch of Amity know who I am.

"My name is Four. This is Tris, Caleb, and Peter."

"Welcome to the Amity compound." She turns to look and smiles. Something in her expression makes my stomach lurch. "Let us take care of you."

-...-...-

They patched Tris up and sent Peter off to go get healed. Tris clings to my arm, leaning heavily onto me. My arm tingles. I can feel the weight on her shoulders by the time one of the Abnegation gives her a pink-red liquid radiating heat.

"Drink this. It will help you sleep as it helped some of the others sleep. No dreams."

Tris does not hesitate. She chugs the drink down and something deep in my chest burns. She is afraid of having nightmares tonight. I lead her to a bedroom and she collapses into the bed. I walk to a room of my own think about her, about the way she was so willing to take whatever guaranteed good sleep.

If it had been offered to me, I would have taken it too.

There was no way I was avoiding nightmares—not tonight, not with Marcus in the same building as me. I collapsed into a bed and waited for the impending terror.

**A/N: soo? What did you think? Review! It gives me the encouragement to keep going!**


	2. Chapter 2: The Decision

**A/N: Thank you for all the encouraging reviews! I am so super sorry it took so long to get this written—between biology and math tests and projects for English and history (state testing too, keystones, ugh!) and piano and guitar lessons and trying to maintain some aspect of a social life, I have been relatively booked. I wouldn't blame you if you hate me, this was completely ridiculous. **

**Chapter Two—The Decision**

"Excuse me," A voice says, and I turn. She's a petite woman, her hair brown and curly where it fell to her shoulders. She was dressed in amity clothes and was holding out a dropper full of thick, clear liquid. "Could you please take this to the other Dauntless girl? Her shoulder was injured pretty severely, she probably needs the medicine."

I take it and slip it into my pocket. "Thank you."

She nods and smiles. "She should take a dropper every six hours. Oh, and there will be a meeting in half an hour to discuss the current situation."

I nod, too. "Okay. Thank you very much."

I turn and walk off to the room I'd dropped Tris off in. I knock softly on the door.

"Come in," she calls.

I only step halfway into the room, letting my eyes run over her. There are dark circles lining her eyes and her blonde hair is in tangles around her face. Her skin is pale, bloodless.

"The Amity are meeting in a half hour," I tell her, arching my eyebrows and trying to lighten the mood, "_To decide our fate."_

She shakes her head, "Never thought my fate would be in the hands of a bunch of Amity." And then a look of pain came over her face.

"Me either. Oh, I brought you something." I pull out the medicine and offer her the dropper, kicking myself for not giving it to her right away. "Pain medicine. Take a dropperful every six hours.

"Thanks." She takes it and squeezes the medicine into her mouth, her nose wrinkling a little at the flavor.

I feel out of place suddenly. I hook my fingers through my belt loops and fidget. "How are you, Beatrice?"

Her eyebrows shoot up. "Did you just call me _Beatrice?"_

"Thought I would give it a try," I smile at her, "Not good?"

"Maybe on special occasions only," She smiles back, "Initiation days, Choosing Days. . ." She trails off.

"It's a deal," I say, and I can feel my smile fade. "How are you, Tris?"

Her face crumbles and for a second she looks like a child who wandered too far off path and cannot find their parents—terrified. "I'm..." She shakes her head fiercely. "I don't know, Four," She says, and it's like a punch to the gut to hear her call me that after all this time. "I'm awake. I..."She shakes her head some more.

I reach out and press my palm to her cheek, curling my index finger around her ear. Electric jolts run up my arm and I lean down and press my lips against hers, letting the fire take me. She wraps her hands around my forearm, holding on as though I were life support.

"I know," I breathe. "Sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

She does not respond and her eyes glaze over. I let go of her. "I'll let you get ready."

-pagebreak-

I tense as Caleb comes over to me. We have not been left alone before. "I'm going to walk with Beatrice. I assume you would like to come."

"How Erudite of you," I say. "Let's go."

As we walked, he fidgeted. "So you and Beatrice," He says quietly. "You two are..."

"Together," my voice is firm.

He presses his lips together and turns his head away. We walk in silence the rest of the way.

When Tris opens the door, I feel my eyes bulge automatically. Her long blonde hair has been chopped off. It ends unevenly around her jaw, and I can tell she did it herself.

"You cut your hair," Caleb says blankly, and I try not to sigh as I wonder how he passed Erudite initiation.

"Yeah. It's ... too hot for long hair." But she chews on the inside of her cheek as she says it, and her eyes don't quite meet his. She's lying.

"Fair enough," He says anyway, and I cannot stop my eyes from rolling.

We walk without speaking, floorboards screeching beneath us, making me want to flinch. I have trained myself to be stealthy, to move quickly and quietly. All the training I have done is shot to hell here.

"Does everyone know you're Marcus's son?" Caleb asked suddenly, and I automatically tensed to avoid flinching at the name. "The Abnegation, I mean?"

I take a deep breath through my nose and try to speak calmly, "Not to my knowledge. And I would appreciate it if you didn't mention it."

"I don't need to mention it. Anyone with eyes can see it for themselves," Caleb frowns at me and I grind my teeth together. "How old are you, anyway?"

For a split second, I almost snap at him. His questions are personal, and I want to treat him like an initiate, want to get in his face and tell him there's a reason I didn't choose Erudite or Candor.

But this is Tris' brother. He is her family, and she loves him. I can see it in her eyes. He's all the family she has left and she needs him. If I mistreat him, she will get angry with me.

"Eighteen."

"And you don't think you're too old to be with my little sister?"

I grind my teeth and laugh bitterly. He cannot honestly think he's bigger or better or somehow more than _Tris, _the Dauntless with only seven fears. "She isn't _your little _anything."

"Stop it. Both of you," She snaps and I clench my jaw. _Tris and Caleb are a package deal. Put up with him and she'll stick around. _

We enter the building for the meeting and I look around. The factions are separated, automatically, naturally, and I notice Tris is carefully eyeing the Abnegation. After a second, she tenses and I see her throat work as she swallows thickly.

I reach out and press my hand against her lower back. Caleb's eyes lock onto my hand, but I ignore him, guiding her over to the meeting, behind the Abnegation. I lean in and press my mouth against her ear.

"I like your hair that way." I tell her, feeling the heat of her body radiate toward me, making me feel hot all over. My hand tingles pleasantly against her back.

She smiles just a tiny bit, but she leans into me as she sits, her arm pressed firmly against mine, fire shooting from my wrist to my shoulder. I do not wrap that arm around her as I would have liked. The Abnegation in her is still very strong, and I don't think she's that comfortable with public displays of affection quite yet.

Johanna lifts her hands and bows her head, silencing the entire room at once. The Amity all either close their eyes or begin moving their lips silently. It is bizarre. The Dauntless are all flash and noise, banging fists and screaming. It's easy to get caught up in, the excitement that fills the air. This is completely different.

"We have before us today an urgent question," She begins, "which is: How will we conduct ourselves in this time of conflict as people who pursue peace?"

I am almost relieved when the Amity begin talking amongst themselves in reaction to this. Sometimes the quiet is relaxing, and other times it is suffocating. Noise is familiar, noise is comfortable.

"How do they get anything done?" Tris mumbles.

The Abnegation tend to remain quiet and respectful during all meetings. It's more efficient and it would be selfish to disrupt someone's speech this way.

"They don't care about efficiency," I tell her. "They care about agreement. Watch."

The groups begin breaking apart and connecting with other groups until they form one giant circle, the volume decreasing until just a few people are speaking.

"This is bizarre," Tris grumbles.

"I think it's beautiful," I disagree.

She gives me a flat look.

"What?" I laugh quietly. "They each have an equal role in government; they each feel equally responsible. And it makes them care; it makes them kind. I think that's beautiful."

For a moment, I can almost see myself as a member of the Amity.

Then reality sets in, and I note the naked feeling of being unarmed. I am Dauntless.

"I think it's unsustainable," She argues. "Sure, it works for the Amity. But what happens when not everyone wants to strum banjos and grow crops? What happens when someone does something and terrible and talking about it can't solve the problem?"

I shrug, that was something I'd never taken the time to think about. "I guess we'll find out."

Soon, Johanna and the spokespeople begin discussing things in hushed voices.

"They're not going to let us argue with them, are they?"

"I doubt it," I say, although we both know they won't.

When Johanna stands alone in the front of the room, she folds her hands in front of her and faces us. "Our faction has had a close relationship with Erudite for as long as any of us can remember. We need each other to survive, and we have always cooperated with each other. But we also had a strong relationship with Abnegation in the past, and we do not think it is right to revoke the hand of friendship when it has for so long been extended."

Tris wipes her forehead with the back of her head. She's radiating nerves. I wish I could take her hand in mine, but she probably wouldn't like that.

"We feel that the only way to preserve our relationships with both factions is to remain impartial and uninvolved. Your presence here, though welcome, complicates that."

I twist my own hands together to try to remain calm.

"We have arrived at the conclusion that we will establish our faction headquarters as a safe house for members of all factions under a set of conditions. The first is that no weaponry of any kind is allowed on the compound. The second is that if any serious conflict arises, whether verbal or physical, all involved parties will be asked to leave. The third is that the conflict may not be discussed, even privately, within the confines of this compound. And the fourth is that everyone who stays here must contribute to the welfare of this environment by working. We will report this to Erudite, Candor, and Dauntless as soon as we can."

She turns and looks at Tris and me, her gaze locked on us.

"You are welcome to stay here if and only if you can abide by our rules. That is our decision."

I smile a bit automatically, relieved that we get to stay. Tris has a gun, and there is no way I am letting it get away from her. She needs to be able to defend herself.

"We won't be able to stay long," Tris mumbles.

"No," I agree, frowning, "we won't."

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed (54 reviews from one chapter? I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.) I am so insanely sorry this took so ridiculously long.


	3. Chapter 3: The Talk

**A/N: This was quite a bit of my own writing because Veronica did not write out what was said between Caleb and Tobias while Tris was in her room and following Marcus, so this is what I think might have happened. ****And by the way, there's something wrong with my shift key, and sometimes it doesn't work, so if there are some capitalization errors or I write ' instead of " that's why.**

**Chapter Three-The Talk**

After the meeting, Caleb and I drop Tris off at her room and Caleb begins walking with me.

"Can I talk to you?" He asks. When I just look at him, he adds, "in private?"

I nod and push open the door to my room. He goes in and I follow behind him, pulling the door shut behind me.

"What are you doing with my sister?" He demands suddenly.

I turn to look at him, eyebrows raising. "Excuse me?"

"Beatrice. What do you think you're doing with her?"

"First of all, she prefers Tris now and I think you should respect that. Secondly, I don't _think_ I'm doing anything with her."

"Look, B—_Tris—_isn't the type of girl you can just play around with, okay? She's Abnegation. She won't survive her heart getting broken."

I laugh once, short and flat. "No, _you_ look. She is not Beatrice Prior, your little Abnegation sister anymore. She's Tris, the Dauntless with seven fears. She's the girl who chose to be different, chose to be more than what everyone expected of her. You cannot believe she's still Abnegation! Sure, there are some aspects of her that are indeed selfless, but _she _isn't Abnegation, she's Dauntless, through and through. And as for her heart, you have _got _to be kidding me. Both of her—your—parents just _died _protecting her. She survived that, didn't she?"

I take a deep breath to steady myself, but he's speaking anyway.

"Yeah, she survived. But I see the way she looks at you, as much as I wish I didn't, and I just can't see her coping with their deaths _and _you mistreating her."

My head jerks back as though I'd gotten slapped. "Mistreating her? Where the Hell did you come up with _that?"_

"You're an eighteen year old Dauntless _man. _You are twice her size and you have _tattoos. _I am Erudite. Did you honestly think I wouldn't know _exactly _what you want from her?"

I groan and roll my eyes. "For the first time, I'm seeing a bit of the family resemblance. You know that's exactly what she assumed too?"

"What does that mean?

"My goal is not to have sex with your sister," I spit, and Caleb's entire face turns bright red. "Believe it or not, I have actual feelings for her—you know, despite my age, size, and _tattoos. _She's tattooed too, you know."

Caleb looks at his feet and folds his arms. "Yeah, I know."

"My tattoos do not change who I am. They don't change the fact that I am in love with her."

Caleb's eyes bug out for a second.

"Yeah," I snap as he fixes his expression. "I love her. She knows my flaws and yet she wants me anyway. I would die before I ever hurt her and I will do everything I possibly can to keep her safe and happy. If that isn't enough for you, you're just going to have to deal with it. I love her, and I'm not leaving her unless that is what she wants. And as of right now, she does not want that."

"You love her," he repeats slowly.

"You're supposed to be Erudite? Did you listen to a single word I said?"

"How can you love her? You haven't even known her a full year!"

"It's a long story."

"It can't be _that _long, you haven't known her long!"

I move over and sit down, leaning against the wall. "I'll start at the beginning. How much do you know about Dauntless Initiation?"

"Not much," He replies, "just that it's brutal and a lot of people don't make it."

"One of the first things Initiates have to do is jump off a building without knowing what they're going to land on. Tris was the first person to jump. That was a pretty amazing first impression, don't you think? The small girl from _Abnegation _was the first to throw herself off a building to become _Dauntless_?"

Caleb's lips press into a hard line. "Was she suicidal?"

"No. She was brave. She made friends right away. I am one instructor. There are others: Lauren, Zeke, and Eric. Eric and I trained the transfers together, and one day Eric got frustrated with one of Tris' friends while we were teaching knife-throwing. Eric is sadistic and he told the boy get stand in front of the target while I threw knives at it."

"Why did he want you to throw the knives?"

"My aim is better than his. But anyway, Tris wouldn't allow it. She stood up and told him that any coward could stand in front of a target, that it wasn't proving anything. So he made her take the boy's place."

_"You threw knives at my sister?" _His voice is alarmingly angry and I roll my eyes.

"Relax. My aim is perfect; she was never in any danger. But Eric would know I went easy on her if I threw too far away from her, so I deliberately nicked her ear, just to prove her bravery to him. It worked. Eric was very proud and the boy got off the hook."

"_You cut my sister's ear with a knife?"_

"Easy there, Erudite. It was a slight nick. It barely even bled. It didn't leave a mark behind. She's fine. I wouldn't _actually _hurt her. And then something went wrong, some fellow initiates turned on her, and I saved her. I think that by the knives, I had feelings for her. Do you know what a fear landscape is?"

"I think I read about it once. Isn't it a room full of your worst fears?"

"Almost," I reply, "It gives you the fears one at a time and you have to either slow your heart down or face the fear to get out of it and to move on to the next fear. My fears are very personal, and I brought Tris with me into my landscape. She helped me get through it, and then I kissed her, and we have been together ever since."

"You're lying. You _can't _have that flawless aim that you just hit her ear perfectly."

I snort and get up, going to the tiny mini fridge that was wedged into the corner of my room. It wasn't customary to have the fridge, but the Amity saw me as one of Dauntless leaders and felt like giving me special attention. I pull a hunk of cheese out of it and grab a butter knife from on top of the fridge.

I stick the cheese on top of my dresser and return to sitting against the wall opposite of it. I lock my eyes onto the cheese, inhaling as I pulled my arm back, and exhaling as I released. The knife flew through the air and sliced cleanly into the center of the cheese.

Caleb's jaw dropped.

"I want to try!"

I scooted out of the way as he retrieved the knife and stood against the back wall. His grip was awkward, his elbow jutting out. He throws wildly and the knife point sticks into the wall.

"No, not like that," I laugh.

"What do you mean, 'not like that'? I imitated you perfectly," Caleb replied, very sure of himself.

"You did not."

"Well, do it again, then." He yanks the knife from the wall—with what looks like a lot of effort, nearly falling backwards afterwards, although the_ butter knife _had barely even stuck.

He hands me the knife and I throw it without even thinking. I don't focus on my breathing. I enjoy knife-throwing and it has been too long since I've had fun with it.

The door opens while I throw, and I turn my head to see Tris coming in the door. She watches me throw, and then looks at her brother.

Caleb gawks at the cheese for a second before turning to Tris.

"Tell me he's some kind of Dauntless prodigy. Can you do this too?"

"With my right hand, maybe," She says, although I'm confident that she could. "But yes, _Four _is a Dauntless prodigy. Can I ask why you're throwing knives at cheese?"

My eyes snap up to hers when she puts emphasis on my nickname and warmth floods my whole body.

"Caleb came by to discuss something," I tell her, leaning my head back against the wall and draping my arm over my knee. "And knife-throwing just came up somehow."

"As it so often does," She murmurs, her lips pulling up into a warm smile. Her eyes run over my body and I try not to fidget. When her eyes return to mine, I hold her gaze and feel flames engulf the room.

Caleb makes a choking noise. "Anyway, I should be getting back to my room," He says, eyes going from Tris to me and back. "I'm reading this book about the water-filtration systems. The kid who gave it to me looked at me like I was crazy for wanting to read it. I think it's supposed to be a repair manual, but it's fascinating." He stops talking and his cheeks turn a little pink. "Sorry. You probably think I'm crazy too."

"Not at all," I said in what he would think was a sincere tone, but Tris would know wasn't. "Maybe _you _should read that repair manual too, Tris. It sounds like something you might like."

'I can loan it to you," Caleb offers.

"Maybe later," She says, giving me a flat look as soon as he gets out the door. "Thanks for that. Now he's going to talk my ear off about water filtration and how it works. Though I guess I might prefer that to what he wants to talk to me about."

"Oh? What's that?" I raise my eyebrows playfully. "Aquaponics?" She seems happier now, somehow, than she was just an hour ago or so. A weight I didn't know existed lifted off my chest.

"Aqua-what?"

"It's one of the ways they grow food here. You don't want to know."

"You're right, I don't. What did he come here to talk to you about?"

"You," I say simply. "I think it was the big-brother talk. 'Don't mess around with my sister' and all that."

I pull myself to my feet.

"What did you tell him?" She asks as I start moving toward her.

"I told him how we got together –that's how knife-throwing came up—and I told him I'm not messing around."

Her whole face softens and she smiles a little bit. I am close enough to reach out and wrap my hands around her hips then, pushing her against the door softly. I lean in and press my lips to hers.

She wraps her good arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer. Her hand inches down my back, pressing under the hem of my T-shirt, her palm pressing against my lower back, fingers spreading out. I can feel my heart throbbing in my chest, beating out a disjointed rhythm.

I pull back long enough to rake in a ragged breath, and then I was kissing her again, more forcefully. My hands grip her hips like I'm holding a life raft.

I drag myself away from her. I don't get far. Her hand is strong and it's pulling at me at once, trying to keep me close.

"This isn't what you came here for," I state.

"No," she agrees, breathing hard against my face.

"What did you come for, then?"

"Who cares?" She replies, digging her fingers into my hair and pulling my face back to hers. I bite back a moan and kiss her, despite my good intentions. She's tugging at the ends of my hair, just enough of a slightly painful sensation to make me drown in the flames. Winged creatures are flying around my stomach, my chest closing up. _I can't breathe._

I pull back just enough to get my lips to her cheek. "Tris," I mumble, trying not to groan as she absentmindedly runs her fingers through my hair.

"Okay, okay." She sighs and untangles her fingers from me hair. we move to sit side by side on my bed. She tells me about how she followed Marcus and Johanna into the orchard, about everything she overhead, and about the argument.

"Well, what do you think?" she asks after she finishes.

"I think," I say slowly, "that it's Marcus trying to feel more important than it is."

"So . . . what? You think he's just talking nonsense?"

"I think there probably is some information the Abnegation knew that Janine wanted to know, but I think he's exaggerating its importance. Trying to build up his own ego by making Johanna think he's got something she wants and he won't give it to her."

"I don't. . ." She frowns. "I don't think you're right. He didn't sound like he was lying."

"You don't know him like I do. He is an excellent liar."

It's true. I still remember the occasional times when we would go places together in Abnegation, the way he would put his hand on my shoulder and act like we were this happy family.

"Maybe you're right, but shouldn't we find out what's going on? Just to be sure?"

"I think it's more important that we deal with the situation at hand," I say. "Go back to the city. Find out what's going on there. find a way to take Erudite down. Then maybe we can find out what Marcus was talking about, after this all resolved. Okay?"

She nods, but something in her eyes is distant. She's keeping something from me. I don't like it, but I have to trust that she'll tell me when she's ready. I have to believe that. She is all I have left.


	4. Chapter 4: The Confrontation

**A/N: oh my gosh, I suck, I know. I haven't written anything at all really in way too long and now that I decide to write, it is literally two in the morning. I don't have an editor, so bear with my here. And since Tobias isn't in chapter four at like all, I decided to improvise a little bit and see what I could come up with, judging my some comments he made later. I had started writing a little bit of this before but apparently I never saved it so I have to restart. I'm always nervous with improvisation, so review and let me know how I did please!**

**Chapter Four-The Confrontation**

I am on kitchen duty, which is one of the worst possible jobs. It's overheated and small and I'm dumping elbows with the guy beside me as we wash dishes. I have to remind myself every few minutes to breathe, that the walls are _not _shrinking in on me, and the room is _not _getting smaller.

"You're Marcus Eaton's son, aren't you?" My coworker asks casually as he scrubs a plate clean. I look at him for a really long time and then take a deep breath through my nose.

"I do not see how that is any of your business," I say, taking the dish from him and drying it before putting it in the clean rack.

He chooses to ignore my response and continues as if I hadn't spoken. "I used to be Abnegation, you know. We transferred the same year."

I don't respond, jus take another plate out of his hands and dry it. We'd just shifted jobs twenty minutes ago—I'd been scrubbing and he was drying. You would think Abnegation would invest in an actual _dishwasher, _since they had an entire faction to feed, but no. "This method promotes communication and teamwork," they told me. "And teamwork and communication lead to peace." Well, this wasn't very efficient, and we'd been here all morning.

"I never really saw you much, growing up. I knew you existed, of course, but the only time you seemed to leave the house was to go to Marcus' political meetings. And that only happened sometimes, when he wanted to flaunt his perfect, happy family." He looks at me out of the corner of his eye. "Why did you transfer?"

"Again," I say tightly, "Not your business."

"My name is Daniel," He said casually, like we just met. "You can call me Danny."

I don't respond again, just keep drying.

"What's your name?"

"Four."

"No, it's not. It's Tobias."

I grind my teeth and keep scrubbing.

"Seriously, though, man, where were you growing up? Did Daddy keep you locked in the basement or something?"

I exhale sharply, as though I'd gotten punched in the gut. Before I had time to think, I had whirled on _Danny _and slammed him up against a refrigerator. A plate fell from his hands and shattered on the floor.

"You-do-not-know-me," I spit, pushing him harder against the fridge with each word. "Do you understand?"

He bobs his head up and down quickly, eyes wide, cheeks bloodless. I step back from him and push my fingers through my hair. The room is too small, the air too thick. Everything is hot and heavy in the worst way possible. My lungs are closing up.

"What is going on over here?" A voice roars, but it is too far away, and the room is spinning and a cold sweat has broken out over my skin and I am panicking.

"I think he's having a panic attack," Daniel says, but he is miles away.

"Get him out of here," The chef says, and Daniel grabs my arm and pulls me outside through a back door.

The air is crisp and cool and it feels a thousand times better. I sink to the ground and pull my legs into my chest, pressing my forehead against my knees. I take deep breaths for a minute or so and then carefully stretch out my legs and get up.

"Are you okay?" Daniel asks cautiously.

"I'm fine," I say, and I am. "Thank you."

His face closes off, becomes cold and distant. "Threaten me again and I won't help you next time."

"Thank you for getting me out of there, but I do not take back what I said. My personal life is _mine _and no one else's business."

"Is that the attitude you have with your girlfriend too? She's actually quite pretty. She has a strange face, but something about it is rather striking."

Anger bubbles up inside me and I glare at him. "Stay away from her."

He puts his hands up. "Keep the peace, man, keep the peace. I was just saying." He looks back at the door. "Go get something to eat. I'll finish up alone."

"Are you sure?" I ask, but I honestly do not know if I can handle the tight space right now.

"Go before I change my mind." And then he was yanking open the door and disappearing inside.

I pull my hands through my hair once more and go to the cafeteria to find Tris.

I feel the heat of her eyes the instant I'm through the door. I go to her and sit down.

"What happened?" She asks, and I can only imagine what I look like.

"In their enthusiasm for conflict resolution, the Amty have apparently forgotten that meddling creates more conflict. If we stay here much longer, I am going to punch someone and it's not going to be pretty." I think of how close I'd come to smashing my fist into Daniel's face in that kitchen.

Her brother and his almost-girlfriend make shocked faces and the people beside us stop talking and gape at me. "You heard me," I snap.

Tris smiles and reaches up to cover her mouth. "As I said, what happened?"

"I'll tell you later," I promise.

Just moments later, a terrifyingly familiar hand falls onto Tris' bad shoulder and her jaw clenches. _He hurt her, _something in my screams. _You're letting him hurt her._

"She got shot in that shoulder," I say, and my voice is full of acid.

"My apologies," Marcus lifts his hand. "Hello."

'What do _you _want?" Tris demands, her voice angry and flat and _that's my girl._

"Beatrice," Caleb's almost-girlfriend scolds. "There's no need to—"

"Susan, please," Caleb hushes her.

Tris gives Marcus a look. "I asked you a question."

"I would like to discuss something with you." The underlying anger in his voice makes my blood run cold. "The other Abnegation and myself have discussed it and decided that we should not stay here. We believe that, given the inevitability of further conflict in our city, it would be selfish of us to stay here while what remains of our faction is inside that fence. We would like you to escort us."

Tris blinks and looks at him for a moment, and then to me. I am unable to meet her gaze. It is pathetic, really, that this man turns me into such a coward. "What do you think?"

"I think we should leave the day after tomorrow," I reply, because that gives us enough time.

"Okay," He responds. "Thank you."

He leaves and I keep my gaze fixed on the table. Tris subtly drags her chair a bit closer to mine and reaches under the table for my hand. I rely on that, on her presence, like an anchor. She keeps me calm and fights off the panic. _You'll be fine, _I think. _It doesn't matter that Marcus is here, because Tris is too. And she won't let you get hurt like that again. She loves you._

But a small voice in the back of my head reminds me that she _hasn't _told me she loves me yet.

That's okay, she shouldn't feel rushed. She's been through hell and back and she doesn't have to go out of her comfort zone. But I can't help but feel like I hung myself out over the Chasm, thinking she would reel me back in but she _hasn't. _She's letting me dangle. I'm reaching, and I can only hope that she'll reach back.

I need her to reach for me.

**A/N: aaaaarrrgghh I feel like that ended so roughly, I didn't like that at all, but whatever. It is now 3 a.m. and I need sleep. Sorry for any stupid errors, I really shouldn't write at these hours.**


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